As we roll into 2025, major banks are offering some huge incentives for new checking account customers. With careful planning, you can take advantage of these offers and earn cash bonuses, but the biggest possible haul might take a bit of planning to maximize your take.

“Checking account offers can be a great way to earn extra cash, but it’s important to approach them wisely. Understand the requirements, such as direct deposits or transaction minimums, and ensure you can meet them without overextending yourself,” says Brandon Norwood, owner of Oak City Financial and host of The Sugar Daddy Podcast.

Still, the rewards can be substantial. Norwood advises savvy savers to use their bonuses strategically by applying them to savings, debt, or investments, but to be mindful of timing and account maintenance requirements to avoid losing the bonus or incurring penalties.

What you should know about checking account bonuses

Not every bank offers a welcome bonus for checking accounts, and some only do so sporadically. The banks that tend to offer checking account bonuses generally have similar requirements:

A minimum activity requirement, typically a specified dollar amount to be direct deposited.
A defined time frame to complete the required activity.
A waiting period, during which time the institution will verify your activity and pay the bonus.
A stipulation that the account must stay open for a defined time period, or else penalties will be incurred.

If you only have one checking account today, opening a second (or even a third) can be helpful for allocating funds to specific purposes. Crystalynn Shelton, CPA and author of Mastering QuickBooks 2025 believes that opening multiple checking accounts to take advantage of welcome bonuses can be great way to earn some extra cash.

“For several years now, I’ve had at least two checking accounts and one or more savings accounts,” says Shelton, who uses one account for her business needs and another for paying monthly bills.

Shelton advises, though, to read the fine print when you want to take advantage of a welcome bonus. “Typically, the banks are not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts—they are also going to benefit from you opening the account,” she says.

Still, it’s possible to get a decent return with these checking incentives; all it takes is some careful planning and attention to detail.

Combine checking account bonuses to maximize your rewards

Notice that none of the banks on our list offer a reward of $1,550 on their own. In fact, the highest bonus you’ll see is $400. It’s barely one-third of our potential total reward, but it’s still a respectable amount. In order to get the total take, you must to open multiple accounts and meet all of the required qualifying activities.

Here’s a simplified summary of how to earn all $1,550 in welcome bonuses on this list. This example is based on biweekly paychecks, but the exact timing will vary depending on your pay cycle.

This strategy requires you to pay close attention to your finances in order to earn every bonus on this list. But if you make it through the first two promotions in quick succession, you should have no problem obtaining the last three since the direct deposit requirements are much lower.

After all of the bonuses hit your account, you’ll be able to close these accounts without penalty—something that doesn’t hold true at every bank when the promotional period ends.

Highest interest rate: SoFi® Bank, N.A.

Maximum reward: $300
Total direct deposit required: $5,000 within 25 days of Direct Deposit Bonus Period
Time to payout after qualifying activity met: 7 days
When account can be closed without penalty: Any time after receiving bonus
Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: N/A

Easily the most challenging bonus to obtain on this month’s list is the SoFi incentive of $300. Hopeful applicants must be able to direct deposit $5,000 from qualifying sources such as a paycheck or social security. On top of that, the deposits have to hit the account fairly quickly: From the day the first direct deposit hits, you only have another 25 days to meet the $5,000 threshold. Applicants who can’t meet this threshold but still manage to direct deposit over $1,000 will get a paltry $50 reward.

Once you meet the qualifying activity, SoFi will deposit your welcome bonus within seven business days as long as the account is still open and in good standing (no negative balance). There’s no minimum balance requirement here, so you can pull out the $5,000 you used to get the bonus and use it to start funding the other accounts you’ll open to maximize your bonus potential.

The account can be closed without penalty after that if you wish. This welcome bonus can only be obtained once per client; if you’ve earned this one in the past, you can’t do so again.

While it’s not the biggest bonus of the month, I’m listing this one first because it expires the soonest; you only have until January 31 to open the account during the current promotional period.

Biggest welcome bonus: PNC Bank Virtual Wallet with Performance Select

Maximum reward: $400
Total direct deposit required: $5,000 within 60 days of account opening
Time to payout after qualifying activity met: 60-90 days
When account can be closed without penalty: Any time after receiving bonus
Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: $5,000

Like SoFi, you’ll have to allocate $5,000 to your new PNC Bank account in order to qualify for the maximum welcome bonus of $400—but this time, you have a full 60 days to do so. Once the qualifying activity is met, PNC Bank will issue the bonus within 60 to 90 days. During this waiting period, you’ll want to leave your $5,000 right where it sits. Otherwise, you’ll be charged a monthly maintenance fee of $25.

Assuming you can afford to leave this money be, you can close the account at any point after the bonus is deposited. If the $5,000 requirement is too steep for you, there are a couple of alternatives: you can earn $200 if you direct deposit $2,000 within the promotional period, or $100 if all you can manage is a $500 direct deposit.

One caveat is that this offer may be limited depending on where you live; account disclosures state that the offer is “contingent on product availability and may vary based on…the ZIP code of your primary address.” If you’re interested in pursuing this option, check the website carefully or consider contacting PNC Bank directly to see if you’re eligible for the promotion, which expires on March 31, 2025.

Fastest pay out: Fifth Third Bank Momentum® Checking

Maximum reward: $300
Total direct deposit required: $2,000 within 90 days of account opening
Time to payout after qualifying activity met: 10 days
When account can be closed without penalty: Any time after receiving bonus
Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: N/A

With a much lower direct deposit requirement and a longer time frame to complete it ($2,000 within 90 days), the $300 bonus offer from Fifth Third is less prohibitive than those from SoFi or PNC Bank. It also boasts the fastest time to pay out the bonus, providing it within 10 days of qualifying activity being met. That means you could potentially open the account, fund it, and receive your bonus within a couple of weeks.

There are no monthly fees or overdraft charges on this account, and you’re not required to keep a minimum deposit to leave it open. That means you can quickly reallocate the funds if you don’t want to keep it open after you receive the bonus—just make sure you don’t close it before that happens! This promotion will be available through March 31, 2025.

Smallest required deposit: Chase Total Checking

Maximum reward: $300
Total direct deposit required: $500 within 90 days of account opening
Time to payout after qualifying activity met: 15 days
When account can be closed without penalty: Any time after receiving bonus
Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: $1,500

If you’re looking for a quick and easy win, Chase Total Checking is a great option. All it takes is a $500 direct deposit, and you’ll receive $300 within 15 days—nearly doubling your money with very little effort. It’s a great deal, but you might want to wait: Chase often offers a bundle deal where you can earn as much as $900 by opening both a checking and savings account. But if simplicity is your goal, this one’s a no-brainer.

The one factor you should keep a close eye on is the account’s minimum balance requirement: You’ll need to keep at least $1,500 in here to avoid a monthly fee. That can potentially mean tying up a chunk of funds for a little while if you can’t do the $500 direct deposit immediately, but if you’re quick you can open the account, fund it, receive the bonus, and close the account before you’re ever charged a fee.

Total Checking does have some excellent perks though and is provided by one of the largest banks in the nation, so it may be one you’re willing to hold onto for a while. Either way, you have plenty of time to decide, as this promotion runs through April 16, 2025.

Best ongoing deal: Capital One 360 Checking

Maximum reward: $250
Total direct deposit required: Two deposits of at least $500 each, within 75 days of account opening
Time to payout after qualifying activity met: 60 days
When account can be closed without penalty: Any time after receiving bonus
Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: N/A

Last but not least, the Capital One 360 Checking offer is an ongoing deal that offers $250 to new customers. To earn the welcome bonus, just set up at least two direct deposits of $500 or more to hit the account within 75 days of opening the account.

It can take up to 60 days for the bonus to hit your checking account, but thankfully there are no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements with 360 Checking so you can relocate your funds if necessary. Once the bonus hits your account it can be closed without penalty if you so choose—but much like Chase Total Checking, this free account is one that can be worth keeping around if you need to keep certain funds separate from others.

Potential drawbacks to stacking welcome bonuses

Shelton offers the age-old advice that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. She’s right, of course: There are risks to opening and closing bank accounts in quick succession like this, and consulting a professional before getting started is always wise.

Dennis Shirshikov, Professor of Finance, Economics, and Accounting at the City University of New York, points out possibly the most obvious risk: each time you open a new account, there is a “hard pull” or “soft pull” of your credit score, which over time might impact your score.

“More difficult than many people would think is the process of juggling several direct payments, making sure you are not paying monthly fees, and avoiding overdraft charges,” says Shirshikov. “Although you could score $100 at Bank A and $200 at Bank B, if each one demands a minimum monthly balance or a set number of debit transactions you could find yourself swiping your debit card significantly more than normal just to fulfill the requirements.”

Norwood agrees. “Bonuses are often considered taxable income, reducing their financial benefit. It’s important to weigh the short-term perks against the potential long-term drawbacks to your financial organization and time spent,” he says.

Shelton suggests that consumers looking for these types of rewards may also want to consider alternatives. “In my opinion, the bonuses that are offered by credit card companies are much more attractive than bonuses for opening checking accounts. If a company offers you $300 for spending $3,000 and you were going to spend that money anyway, now you’ll be rewarded for doing so.”

Earn up to $1,550 with January’s top checking account bonuses